Do Walk-Ons Get Athletic Scholarships?

Are You A Walk-On?

Not every student-athlete is going to be awarded an athletic scholarship, and in some cases, athletes may choose to turn down a scholarship to a smaller school to walk-on at a bigger university.Making the team as a walk-on can be difficult, but if you are successful then there is an opportunity for you to earn scholarship money or financial aid down the road.If you make the team as a walk-on you won’t earn any scholarship money in your first year (unless you are getting academic scholarship money elsewhere).Not every high school athlete gets invited to colleges on official visits; therefore, it’s imperative to take unofficial visits to schools and build relationships with coaches.This will make it easier on you to make the team as a walk-on.Coaches invite recruits to walk-on all the time, but just getting the invite doesn’t guarantee you’ll make the roster.A walk-on will still need to tryout and make the team.

Preferred walk-on is a term being used more and more by coaching staffs.A preferred walk-on is typically someone that is recruited by a college coach but not offered a scholarship.Preferred walk-ons typically have a lot of communication with the coaching staff and are usually offered a roster spot before tryouts, which is the main difference between a walk-on and a preferred walk-on.